Itunes Plus

It's been an interesting road since Apple launched iTunes Plus, originally only offering DRM-free music for EMI and independent labels. Now everyone is on board -- or will be by the end of April -- and Apple has righted the wrong of requiring every track to be updated all at once. So what else is going on?

Seems like Apple accidentally charged some upgraders $9.99 to take their albums to iTunes Plus, but Macworld says Apple is making it right:

We've heard rumors about this before, but now the New York Times (via MacRumors) is pretty much coming right out and saying it. Apple was ready to give up their uniform pricing model ($0.99 per song) over a year ago but they wanted not only DRM-free licensing in return, but over-the-air (cellular) iPhone downloads. It seems many, including Apple and the music industry, think that's the Next Big Thing.

When Apple first announced it was going DRM-free at Macworld 2009, they set up a system where users who previously bought the old, lower quality, copy-protected music could upgrade to the new, higher-quality, non-protected music for $0.30 per single track.

What finally made Apple and Steve Jobs relent on their previously locked-in-stone $0.99 single price for single songs iTunes business model? Many suspected it was the lure of DRM-free music, which the record labels (except EMI) had been withholding from Apple and providing competitors like Amazon MP3 in an attempt to break the iTunes juggernaut.

Phil Schiller, during his Macworld Keynote (see our MASSIVE live blog!) today, announced -- as rumored -- that iTunes is going DRM-Free! 8 million songs will be available in higher-quality 256-bit, DRM-free iTunes Plus format immediately, the remaining 2 million or so songs following by the end of the quarter.

Pre-Macworld rumors are flying with CNet reporting that Apple has finally succeeded in getting Big Music to allow iTunes to sell DRM-free (non-copy protected) music, something long ago granted to competitors like Amazon MP3.

The cost? Variable pricing. Apple has tried to hold the line at a consistent $0.99 per song pricing (briefly flirting with a premium $1.29 for iTunes Plus' higher bit-rate, DRM-free music before dropping it back down to $0.99 as well). Now, the same rumor holds that Apple will let Big Music sell the latest, hottest hits at a much higher rater, and older, catalog titles at a reduced $0.80 price point.

Apple Insider has published a rumor saying Apple's iTunes service is about to match Amazon MP3 by going DRM free. This follows on a previous story saying Apple was in negotiations to do just that.

Since the introduction of iTunes Plus (the name given to the higher-quality 256 bit DRM-Free music), only EMI has allowed Apple to carry their music in that format, with Warner, Sony, and Universal refusing to do so, instead only offering them to iTunes competitors like Amazon, Napster, etc.